Bulleted Analysis of “Helping Families with Mental Health Crisis Act of 2013” By Paul’s Legacy Project December 16, 2013 Summary: The “Helping Families With Mental Health Crisis Act of 2013” comes close to meeting the objective of Paul’s Legacy Project, which is to improve the treatment of people with serious mental illness. Where the Helping Families with Mental Health Crisis Act of 2013 (HFMHCA of 2013) comes closest to meeting this goal are the following provisions: • Redirection of SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency) to focus their efforts on the most seriously ill with mental illness • Re-interpretation of HIPPA (Health Information Privacy and Portability Act) which are needed to help family members help their loved ones get, and stay, into a treatment program that works • Codification of Assistant Outpatient Treatment laws on a National scale • Increased funds for Crisis Intervention Training for police and other first responders; • The repeal of the Medicaid Institutes for Mental Diseases (IMD) Exclusion • Increased number of psychiatric beds made available to individuals who are in an acute phase of their illness Where HFMHCA of 2013 falls short of that goal is in the following: • Treatments for serious mental illness continues to fall under Behavioral Health, which continues the focus on the behaviors caused by the symptoms of the illness, rather than focusing on the illness itself • No provisions to monitor discharge and step-down procedures to ensure the most vulnerable people with serious mental illness receive the proper discharge and transition planning, supports, and follow-up • No provisions for the proper enforcement of the Olmstead Decision, to ensure the appropriate level of housing and supports are available to everyone based on their current abilities. The current DOJ push is to transition people into scattered, supportive housing, first, which is an unreasonable expectation. • No provisions for more long-term beds which are also in short supply. • No provisions for more beds in long-term, residential, drug rehabilitation facilities, which are currently included in the ban from federal funds under the Medicaid IMD Exclusion. • Creation of an Assistant Secretary position and the Interdepartmental Coordination Committee may create a new level of bureaucracy and unsure of ability to redirect purpose of SAMHSA We were unable to assess the effectiveness of the sections pertaining to children and the introduction of tele-psychiatry as a means of increasing access to psychiatrists and look forward to performing further research in these areas. While we are very supportive of most of the components of the bill and feel it will go far to help get better treatment for people with serious mental illness and provide additional relief to their families, there is also much more work to be done. We hope there will be time for discussion and the ability to add and change provisions in order to make all of the necessary improvements possible at this time. Ilene Flannery Wells Executive Director Paul’s Legacy Project
Posted on: Mon, 16 Dec 2013 04:22:55 +0000
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